Another Hitchcock Memory
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
By Gordon Meyer
P3GizmoGuy@gmail.com
Frank Barron’s recent blog entry about Alfred Hitchcock reminded me of my own personal encounter with the Master of Suspense. I know this is likely to date me, but what the heck. It’s too good a story not to share.
When I was a student at what was then called the USC Division of Cinema-Television (Famous Film School was still part of the School of Performing Arts at the time), I produced a tribute to Albert Whitlock, the Oscar winning visual effects artist who specialized in matte work. (Whitlock won Oscars for his work on “The Hindenburg” and “Earthquake.”) The tribute was for the annual awards banquet hosted by Delta Kappa Alpha, the 50 year old pre-professional cinema fraternity whose roster of honorary members is a Who’s Who of Hollywood.
Hitch was a lifelong friend of Whitlock’s dating back to when the two Brits were still working in the UK and Whitlock did some kind of matte work on Hitchcock’s last six films - from “The Birds” through “Family Plot.” Needless to say, I was jumping up and down in the film school’s patio when I got the word that Hitchcock had agreed to present Whitlock with his award.
For those not familiar with the process, Whitlock would paint a semi-stylized background image on a large sheet of glass. Whitlock explained to me that it was stylized because, ironically enough, a more detailed painting would not read as well on-screen. Blank space would be left on the painting for where the live action would be. The film would then be wound back and double exposed with the actors.
The evening of the banquet, we ran a goody reel of some of Whitlock’s work. The example that I still remember to this day was seeing footage of Lucille Ball and some kid sitting on a non-descript triangular projection, followed by Whitlock’s matte painting of water. Yet when the images were combined, we saw that it was Auntie Mame and her nephew sitting on the crown of the Statue of Liberty for the big screen musical “Mame.”
The industry veterans in the audience were blown away by the goody reel. Then Hitch wobbled up to the podium. This was towards the end of his life and sadly he was plagued with arthritis. But his mind was still sharp as a tack and his wit unmatched. Here’s what he said:
“You by now realize that a matte is not something that you wipe your feet upon. You know the real tragedy of this business is that the better a job Al has done, the less people know he’s been there. What we really need is for people to come out of the theatre and say, ‘My, what a good matte.’ But since I cannot wish you more recognition Al, all I can wish you is more…. Money.” Now, Hitchcock showed everyone the plaque. “This is not really here. It’s a matte. I told you, you couldn’t tell the difference.”
Not only the Master of Suspense, but also the Master of Wry Comments.
